KHARTOUM — Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir told his ruling National Congress (NC) party to prepare for a peace deal he believes is imminent with the country's southern rebels, the state newspaper Al-Anbaa reported Saturday. "While peace will have numerous gains, it will bring about burdens that require tremendous efforts that must ultimately result in unity after the six-year transitional period," Beshir was quoted as saying at a party meeting Friday. Beshir said the period that will follow the signing of a peace agreement, expected to be reached sometime this summer, with the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) "will bring years of a jihad that are more difficult than the jihad of the gun."
Ravaged by two decades of civil war, the south is in need of "extensive" rebuilding which "will be the responsibility of the National Congress members, " Beshir said. A protocol signed in Machakos, Kenya last July provided for a six-year period of autonomy for the SPLA-controlled southern Sudan ahead of a referendum to decide whether the south would secede or be granted more autonomy. In the fifth round of talks, which concluded Wednesday, the two sides were negotiating the key issues of sharing power and resources as well as security arrangements for the transitional period. Beshir said the reconstruction of the south should "convince the southern brothers to vote for unity" at the end of the transition period, while he warned his party "will never relinquish" control of the south.
| So they can either vote for it, or else... |
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